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A 23-year-old man is rebuilding his life in Chicago after his future was upended during a violent encounter while he attended the University of Rochester.

Northbrook native Nicholas Kollias was a senior at UR when he decided to tag along with a friend who was invited to a gathering by a young woman on Dec. 4, 2015, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Over the following 40 hours, Kollias was held against his will, became the subject of a large-scale manhunt and was beaten, shot, sexually assaulted and tortured. The men were eventually rescued by a SWAT team.

Within weeks, authorities had arrested nine Rochester-area residents in their late teens and 20s. Five of the defendant pleaded guilty to kidnapping, and the other four were convicted in trial last year.

The sentences ranged from seven years in prison for each of two women who helped the perpetrators of the torture to 155 years in prison for the man authorities identified as the leader of the incident.

Kollias graduated a semester early, now works at a financial services firm and finds solace in playing piano. He continues physical therapy with a titanium rod in his left leg and a bullet still in his right calf.

"It was kind of like playing football," Kollias said of his recovery, "being an athlete all my life, always being a really self-driven, ambitious person, just not taking no as an answer (and) always willing to better myself and grow from every situation. ... it's only going to get better from here."

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Defendant Lydell Strickland listens as his attorney, Christian Kennedy, says that Samantha Hughes and Leah Gigliotti, not his client, are to blame in the case. Hughes and Gigliotti accepted plea deals. MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Elliot Rivera speaks with Dennis Perez as both were led away after sentencing in Monroe Supreme Court on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. They had pleaded guilty in September. Both received 35 years. TINA MACINTYRE-YEE/@tyee23/staff photographer

Monroe County Supreme Court Justice Alex R. Renzi addresses the four defendants before sentencing. The victims, he said, are “never going to be the same, physically or mentally.” TINA MACINTYRE-YEE/ @tyee23/staff photographer

Leah Gigliotti with her lawyer, Brian DeCarolis watching, apologizes to the one victim who spoke in court at the sentencing. She and Samantha Hughes helped lure the students away but Gigliotti eventually told police where the men were. TINA MACINTYRE-YEE/@tyee23/staff photographer

Monroe County ADA Christine Callanan, gives her opening statement Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, at the trial of people accused of luring two University of Rochester students to a drug house. "They thought they were going to continue a night out and meet up with some girls." MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Defendants Inalia Rolldan and Ruth Lora, two of the four on trial in the
UR abduction case, listen to prosecutor Christine Callanan. They are charged with crimes but are not the two woman accused of luring the two students to the Harvest Street house where they were subjected to torture. MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lydell Strickland is one of the four on trial in the UR abduction trial. His charges include kidnapping, gang assault robbery and criminal possession of a weapon. MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Prosecutors Christine Callanan and Matthew Schwartz listen as attorney Frank Ciardi tells the jury that his defendant, David Alcaraz-Ubilie, was in the Harvest Street home for only one of the 40 hours the two University of Rochester students were held captive. MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Attorney David Murante tells the jury that much of the evidence will not deal with his client, Lora, and that they should not allow it to "spill over" from other evidence to impact allegations against her. Lora is accused of kidnapping and criminal possession of a weapon. MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Prosecutor Matthew Schwartz listens as attorney James Riotto tells the jury that his client, Inalia Rolldan, went to Harvest Street only to get high, eat pizza and watch movies and that all the evidence against her is circumstantial. MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Judge Alex Renzi listens to attorney Christian Kennedy describe a robbery of drugs that's believed to have led to the kidnapping of the two students. Kennedy says his client, Lydell Strickland, had nothing to do with that crime. MAX SCHULTE/@maxrocphoto/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER